


Clear Your Head

by cecilantro



Series: 100 Days Of Ficlets [50]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Background Mollymauk/Fjord, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 08:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14352042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: “You’re going to kill your cat, Caleb, stalk me like a man.”





	Clear Your Head

Mollymauk feels a kind breeze pull his hair back from his face and brush away what he suspects was the beginnings of tears, those inconveniences are burdens for when he returns for life, but like he’s shed the person that came before him, he can shuck off the coat of himself for a few minutes here and there when he’s under the night sky. It feels calm, homey, even, safer somehow. There’s a breath at the back of his mind of  _ Moonweaver _ and he acknowledges it but it passes by, and that, too, is a gift.    
It’d been hell to convince Fjord to let him go out alone that evening, with so much wrong, but the Crown’s Guard presence in this part of town dwindles at night and he doesn’t feel as though he’ll run into trouble.   
_ Alone _ , though, is subjective. Firstly, with the moon overhead, he knows he will never feel truly alone, in a way that is a blessing more than a curse, a friendly loyalty from something higher looking out for him. Trust is rare, and it’s an odd feeling to trust that something and someone you have never met has your back, but he trusts anyways, because what other choice does he have?   
Secondly, somewhat more annoyingly, he’s sure Caleb thinks he’s being stealthy but he really  _ isn’t _ , and not just with Frumpkin. The cat padding along the roofs trailing him  is obvious enough, though he’s trying his damndest to look like just another stray, Caleb himself stays only a street or so behind, he’s caught the trail of coat as he spins into an alleyway.   
He passes another alley, a wider one, it could be considered a street, and sees Frumpkin from the corner of his eye.   
The cat jumps and Molly knows, in that first instant, that he won’t make the jump, but  _ will _ make a pretty cloud of smoke when he hits the floor and poofs out of reality, Caleb can’t afford to bring him back, Molly moves.    
He gets under just in time, manages to catch Frumpkin with little more than some squishing of body, and switches his hold to the scruff of his neck to level their eyes.   
“You’re going to kill your cat, Caleb, stalk me like a man.”   
He puts Frumpkin down and steps back to the main street, leans against a wall and watches the direction that he knows Caleb will come from.   
Frumpkin winds around Molly’s ankles in a figure-eight a few times, then sits close to his right leg and they wait in silence, Caleb appears around the corner at the end of the street and Molly crosses his arms in faux-anger. Caleb keeps his eyes firmly on the floor as he makes his approach, lifts his head only when he feels close enough, and Molly calls,   
“You could have just asked to come with me, you know.”   
Caleb doesn’t reply until he’s within quiet speaking distance,   
“You, you told Fjord that you did not want company, and we did not want you getting killed-”   
“I told  _ Fjord _ I didn’t want company.” Molly quirks an eyebrow, “I don’t want  _ Fjord’s _ company, I get enough of that at night and as handsome and wonderful as he is, he worries, and I don’t really want to be erring on the emotional comfort side of things right now.”   
Caleb breathes, deep and even, Molly can’t tell if it’s calming panic at being caught, or exasperation at Molly’s attitude.   
“Would you mind my company, then? I promised Fjord that I would ensure you did not get yourself killed, or arrested.”   
“One of those two, I can promise.” Molly holds up two fingers and folds one down with a wink, “Though if I am arrested, I fully intend for it to be public nudity, and not suspected murder.”   
“Yes, public nudity seems to be a strong suit of yours.” Caleb makes a face, “Would you prefer me, or Frumpkin?”   
“Oh, you, Caleb, of course.” Molly says, like it’s an obvious choice. Frumpkin mewls from his ankles and he chuckles, bends down to scratch his ears, “Though you’re a nice addition, too, Frumpkin. No offense intended.”   
He tilts his head to look at Caleb and catches a fond smile, then it disappears with a click of his fingers, and so does Frumpkin, Molly’s fingertips scratch at thin air.   
“I’m sure the  _ cat _ appreciates your affection.” Caleb tries to sound sarcastic, but Molly knows him better, and chooses to ignore the underlying jab. He offers his arm to Caleb dramatically,   
“Shall we?”   
Caleb grimaces, and a few seconds pass in which Molly thinks that Caleb will walk off without him. Then, the wizard tucks a hand carefully to the crook of Molly’s elbow.   
“Lead the way, Mollymauk.”

 

Molly doesn’t have anywhere specific in mind, he never did, just a nice walk around the streets of Zadash to clear his head. Unfortunately, the side-effect of having Caleb on his arm and cuddling a little closer with every dark street is that his mind is becoming constantly cloudier. Thoughts of kissing Caleb fill Molly’s mind, starting small and solid and trickling, and exploding like fog clouds to consume almost all other thought.   
The streets of Zadash are not as empty as Caleb thought they would be- he has seen a city after disaster, after all- but they are far quieter than they had been before the catastrophe. It is, surprisingly, a pleasant atmosphere on the main, lit streets. In the back alleys and darker streets, though, it sends a shock of caution up his spine. He’s gotten this far by being scared, and it’s worrying that he’s not scared anymore, just hyper-aware and on guard, danger is everywhere for people like them.   
He suspects that it’s the presence of Mollymauk that helps to allay his worries about attack. He can feel, from bumping his hip to Molly’s a few times when they round corners, that he does not have his scimitars on him, but it’s no matter. Caleb’s dagger is always strapped to his waist, though he very rarely uses it, he’s seen that Molly’s magic comes from within now. An icicle to the chest would scare away most minor criminals, and they’re in cahoots with The Gentleman now, so most of the criminal rings should stay away. A positive, he supposes, of jumping two-feet-first into the dark underbelly of the city.   
Molly tugs gently and they round a corner into an alley far darker than any they’ve passed so far, Caleb unconsciously huddles closer, moves his free hand to his dagger in case he should need to pass it to Molly, he can cast one-handed with his dominant hand anyway, and that’s the one crooked around Molly’s elbow.   
Halfway down the alley, Molly stops them.   
“Mollymauk?” Caleb’s concern is glaringly obvious, he hates it, as Molly pulls away and puts his hands to Caleb’s shoulders, turning them to face one another.   
There’s a pause, as Molly’s attention is pulled from Caleb to the moon by some impulse that isn’t his own, like a whisper, and he stares for a few moments before dropping back, it means little to him, Caleb is starting to put puzzle pieces together.   
He drops his hand from his dagger.   
“Why did  _ you _ come out with me tonight?” Molly asks, seriously,   
“I- well, Fjord, asked me to-”   
“Why  _ you _ , though? Nott would have been sneakier. Why not her?”   
He knows why Fjord sent Caleb, after all, Molly’s been lying with his head in Fjord’s lap, complaining about his feelings for the wizard since  _ day fucking one _ , so much so, in fact, that it had taken Fjord far too long to realise that Caleb wasn’t the only man that Molly had developed feelings for. And he had only realised because he had overheard Molly and Yasha discussing it. Or Yasha making fun of Molly for it. It amounted to one and the same.   
“I- I think, because Frumpkin, he most likely assumed that I could, could follow you, with him, but if you got into trouble, Nott would have been a, a, a better choice.” Caleb stutters over his words now that the situation is pressured, Molly chuckles softly and leans a little closer.   
“Is that the  _ only _ reason? Or does Fjord have some information on you that I don’t?”   
Caleb shrinks into himself, and Molly backs up.   
“Sorry.”   
“No, it’s- it’s fine, I am just, unused to-”   
“You don’t have to explain, Caleb.” Molly steps back to lean against the wall, almost idly, Caleb knows him better. He steps in to Molly, a little closer, as close as his pulse will allow him without zipping off into dangerous territory.   
“Does Fjord know things about  _ you _ that I do not? He was, eager, to say the least, to send me after you.”   
Molly eyes him and considers his options and decides, fuck it, if it all goes to shit, he’ll blame it on the booze that he’d forgotten he had.   
“Yes.” He tells Caleb, and forces himself to meet his eyes, “Fjord knows that I’m in love with you. That’s why he sent  _ you _ .”   
Caleb’s jaw slacken in shock, his eyes widen, and Molly wrangles his runaway pulse as the panic sets in. He’s not generally worried or afraid when his feelings come out, but he’s made the choice, and it’s a choice that could fuck up the Nein, and why did he do it? What possessed him? He’s going to have to sweet talk so  _ hard _ and why is Caleb on his tiptoes and oh, Gods, Caleb is kissing him.   
His train of thought derails, goes soaring over the side of a cliff and crashes into the ocean below, the panic and speed melts away into almost a liquid coolness, the lapping of grey water at the base of tall columns of rock the only disturbance in his mind and Caleb is his hand on the door, he escapes the carriage and surfaces, gasping for air, when Caleb draws back.   
“You know that you could have just told me, instead of, of, forcing Fjord to strategise his way into getting us, to- together.” Caleb’s hands, which were on Molly’s shoulders, run down his arms to take his hands, incredibly gentle, soft, loving, Molly chuckles a little. It’s not so much amusement as relief, a little shock, he squeezes Caleb’s hands.   
“Fjord  _ thrives  _ on this, more so than Jester, even.” He tilts to kiss Caleb’s head as punctuation for his words, “He was more upset that I developed feelings for  _ him, _ because he can’t orchestrate those interactions.”   
Caleb doesn’t register any shock, and Molly supposes he didn’t expect him to, of course he would have noticed the change between him and Fjord.   
“I- I had, assumed, yes, Fjord is a very handsome man, after all.”   
“Oh, shit,” Molly’s eyes widened, he hadn’t expected that, “You, too?” and how didn’t he notice. Caleb actually gives a flash of a laugh,   
“Everyone thinks that Fjord is handsome, Mollymauk, but, but, yes, I have developed some… deeper feelings for him, now that I, I compare to this.” He gestures to Molly with one of his interlinked hands, “Though it is amusing to me, until just, just now, I had not realised that what I was feeling was romantic. It has been far too long.”   
Molly kisses him again, stops him talking, he feels a sense of pride, the sensation of a smile in his mind and it isn’t his own, his eyes are drawn up again when he pulls back from Caleb’s lips and the moon reflects in the red of his eyes.   
“Perhaps we should get back to The Leaky Tap, before Fjord decides he is too anxious to stay put?” Caleb suggests, and Molly smiles,   
“He trusts you.”   
He turns anyways and pulls Caleb by the hand through the streets, back to the place they’re calling home.    
He’d come out to clear his mind. He supposes it worked.


End file.
